Early Irish Literature

Description

Introduction by James Carney. In the present volume are brought together three important works on early Irish literature: "Irish Classical Poetry", by Dr. Eleanor Knott; "Saga and Myth in Ancient Ireland" and "The Ossianic Lore and Romantic Tales of Medieval Ireland", by the late Professor Gerard Murphy. Between them, these three works by two most distinguished Celticists, comprise an excellent introduction to over a thousand years of traditional Gaelic literature, reckoning from its remote beginnings in the sixth or seventh century down to the eighteenth, by which time the production of creative literature in traditional forms had come almost to a standstill. Abbreviations vii Introduction by James Carney 1 IRISH CLASSICAL POETRY I. EARLY POETRY Bard and fili 21 Metrical form 23 Subjects and authors 28 Literary style 30 Anonymity 37 Early religious poetry 38 Love poems 45 Ossianic poems 54 II. THE COURT POET AND HIS WORK 'Dá mbáidhti an dán' 60 Composing a poem 63 Recitation 64 Language 65 Style 68 Poems of praise, protest, etc. 71 Satire 77 Personal poems 82 The religious verse of the court poets 85 The 'Contention of the Bards' 88 Conclusion 92 SAGA AND MYTH IN ANCIENT IRELAND Storytelling in ancient Ireland 97 Mythological tales 104 Tales of the heroic age 114 King tales 131 Later development 142 THE OSSIANIC LORE AND ROMANTIC TALES OF MEDIEVAL IRELAND The Fionn cycle 145 Early Fionn tales 148 Early Fionn ballads and Acallam na Senórach 154 New trends in Irish storytelling as a result of the Anglo-Norman invasion 166 Translations and adaptations 170 Irish Arthurian tales 172 Irish romantic tales 174 Later Fionn tales 182 Later Fionn ballads 187 Manuscript tradition and oral tradition 191 Books for further reading 194 Index of Names, Terms, Authorities, etc. 195 Index of Tales, etc. 201